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1. Alberta taxpayers on the hook for growing government debt interest payments

   Appeared in the Edmonton Sun, July 29, 2020 The Government of Alberta is awash in red ink. The province has gone from being “debt free” in 2015 to $35 billion in debt at the end of the 2019 fiscal year. This year, that debt load will grow much larger ...

2. Another pipeline setback, another blow to Alberta government finances

   Appeared in the Calgary Sun, June 10, 2020 Alberta’s fiscal situation has been deteriorating for a decade, and the COVID-induced recession has dealt another major blow to the province’s finances. Premier Kenney recently predicted the budget deficit could ...

3. Mounting government debt threatens Alberta’s fiscal status among provinces

   Appeared in the Edmonton Journal, May 5, 2020 Recently, RBC Economics published a report on provincial finances. The report, which is clear, concise and highly informative, estimates that all the provinces taken together will this year run a cumulative ...

4. Canada still relies on its wounded golden goose

   Appeared in the Calgary Sun, April 29, 2020 Albertans have suffered tremendous economic pain in recent years. Steep recessions in 2009 and 2015/2016 (which was among the worst recessions in provincial history) rocked the province and the recovery has been ...

5. Alberta’s debt-to-GDP ratio set to climb—quickly

   Alberta’s economy now faces its third recession in a little more than a decade. Steep economic contractions in 2009 and 2015/16 have caused tremendous economic pain in the province. Now, with cratered oil prices and COVID-19, Alberta is ...

6. Alberta’s bleak economic outlook will hasten the decline of provincial finances

   Appeared in the Calgary Sun, April 22, 2020 Due to COVID-19, with many Albertans sheltering in place to avoid spreading the disease, the province’s economy is obviously taking a huge hit. And we also face a global oil glut, which made historic headlines ...

7. Alberta facing possible third recession in a little more than a decade

   It’s no secret that Albertans have suffered a great deal of economic pain in recent years. Sharp recessions that began in 2009 and 2015 caused unemployment and hardship across the province. Although Alberta experienced a strong recovery ...

8. Alberta careening towards fiscal disaster

   Appeared in the Calgary Sun, March 11, 2020 Successive Alberta governments have mismanaged the province’s finances for decades. The recent oil price drop and stock market crash means Alberta’s finances, already in trouble, are now potentially careening ...

9. Kenney government squanders opportunity to strengthen path to balanced budget

   In its recent budget, the Alberta government projected it will collect more revenue over the next few years than originally forecasted in its first budget last year. That’s good news for a province trying to balance its budget. But this ...

10. Alberta’s finances still rapidly eroding

    The Government of Alberta has been burning through financial assets at an alarming pace ever since the 2008 financial crisis. While the provincial economy quickly recovered from that short-but-deep recession, successive governments still ...